Fountain dividers



Jan. 12,1960 G. HEWLETT 2,920,558

FOUNTAIN DIVIDERS Filed Oct. 9. 1953 IN VEN TOR.

7 Z GEORGE HEWLETT 5 BY United States Patent 2,920,558 FOUNTAIN DIVIDERS Application October 9, 1953, Serial No. 385,175

1 Claim. (Cl. 101-364) The present invention relates to dividers for fluid receptacles such as printing press fountains.

Printing presses generally are provided with a fluid tight receptacle for holding the supply of ink necessary for the printing operation. These fountains which are soprovided are of considerable volume and extend usually the entire length of the printing rolls. When it is desired to print on sheets smaller than the largest sheets which the particular press can accommodate, or when it is desired to print in inks of dilferent colors, the preferred practiceis to divide thefountain into separate ink containing reservoirs. In such division it is of course necessary that a fluid tight seal be made with the fountain and also with the roller which is associated with the fountain forming one of the walls thereof and which transfers the ink from the fountain on to the train of printing rollers.

Since the dividers must be of a removable nature to allow for greatest flexibility of division of the fountain into separate ink reservoirs, a permanent installation such as would allow for welding, caulking or the like is impractical and a fluid tight seal between the divider and the confines of the fountain is accordingly more difiicult' to achieve. The problems of obtaining such" a fluid tight seal are further enhanced by the fact that a rotating roller forms one of the confines of the fountain and a seal must be made about such rotating roller.

To meet these difliculties, fountain dividers have in the past been provided with resilient means about their peripheral portions to fit snugly against the walls of the fountain and the rotating fountain roller. Such resilient sealing strips were at first more or less permanently attached to a body member of the divider which body member was clamped in position "upon the fountain. It was later discovered however that improvedscaling properties over longer periods of operation could be achieved if means were provided in the body of the divider for further adjustment of the sealing strip against the fountain members. These means have taken the form of adjustment screws passing through the body of the divider and bearing against the sealing strip in such a manner that the contour of the sealing strip and the pressure with which it bears against the fountain members can be controlled by tightening or loosening the screws. In spite of this additional adjusting means, a perfect seal between the divider and the fountain members has still been difficult to achieve and much time and effort have been expended in the precision adjustment required of the adjustment screws. Furthermore, the vibrations present in the press and the dynamic stresses imparted to the divider by the rotating fountain roller have made it extremely difficult to maintain the adjustmentscrews in the position in which they had been set. It also frequently happened that, during the adjustment of the screws, one or more of them would break or twist off with the result that the divider would have to be removed and repaired and the printing operation would be seri- Patented Jan. 12, 1960 ously disrupted by the loss of the necessary fountain division. I

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved divider for receptacles such as ink fountains and the like.

It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide an ink fountain divider having improved adjustment means.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an ink fountain divider with such improved adjustment means that are capable of withstanding the rigors of the operation of the press and the stresses imparted to it by the fountain roller with which it is in contact.

It has been discovered that these and other obvious objects and advantages maybe achieved and an improved fountain divider obtained by the provision of the same with activated pulsi-on means exerting a constant and uniform pressure against the inner surface of a peripheral sealing strip which is forced outwardly against the confines of the fountain including the rotating fountain or ductor roller.

These activated means may be conveniently provided in the form of compression springs acting at spaced points along a segmental metal pressure strip in such a manner that the desired urging force will be imparted to the resilient member positioned around the pressure strip. Since the ultimate operative position of the pressure strips and the desired points of incidence of the force of the compression springs or other urging means acting upon such strips may be exactly predetermined, the divider, once properly designed, may be used with constantly satisfactory forces acting against the resilient sealing strip thereof to give the necessary fluid tight seal. In view of the fact that the press operator has only to mount the divider upon a suitable mounting bar provided on the press, the human element does not enter into the natural adjustment of the sealing member in the fountain so that the variables influencing such seal are eliminated and consistent results achieved. Since no adjustments are to be made during the use of the divider, the possibility of damage to the divider resulting from breaking or damaging the adjusting means is eliminated. Furthermore, since the urging provided by the present invention results in a resilient mounting for the sealing strip the vibrations of the press and the stresses imparted by the rotating fountain roller are absorbed without serious damage to the divider or the sealing strip.

One preferred embodiment of the present invention is more fully set forth in the following detailed description in connection with which reference may be had to the drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in elevation and partial cross section of one form of a fountain divider incorporating the two side plates, one of which is shown at ll, the other of which is not shown for purposes of clarity. These side plates are mounted on opposite sides of a central spacer casting shown in segmental parts 12 and 12a which follow generally the contour of the periphery of the side plates and are spaced inwardly therefrom. The mounting.

of the side plates to-the spacer casting may be secured by any desired fasteners 13 which might include rivets, bolts or the like. The arrangement of the two side plates, one on each side of the spacer casting provides a divider body having a marginal channel adapted to receive a sealing strip or other gasketing means 14 to provide the desired fluid tight seal. The sealing strip is preferably composed of a resilient material and should besuflic'iently flexible to allow for its ready conformation to the contour of the interior of the receptacle uporrwhieh it isemployed. While rubberand other known gasketing'. materials are satisfactory for this purpose. the sealing portion 14 of the preferred embodiment hereindescribed is composed of felt or similar matted fibrous material.

A covering in the form of a panel such as 15 may be provided along the top of the peripheral groove formed by the spaced mounting of the side platesso as to protect the interior of the divider from inks and other eat-- traneous matter which might enter the same to the damage of the moving parts. Such a cover is preferably mounted upon a pivot pin-16 and is held along the top of the side plate by its own-weight.

The spacer casting segment 12 is provided at one end with a mounting hook or clamp 17 adapted to hold thumb screw 18 in such position that it may be positioned against a suitably located mounting bar upon the press so as to hold the divider in its operative position. It is to be understood that when the divider is held in its operating position, the edges of the side plate are not in actual contact with the walls and bottom of the fountain nor with the fountain roller, the actual fluid tight seal being made by the resilient sealing strip which will be held within the channel formed by the side plates.

Through the spacer castings are provided a plurality of bores or unthreaded passages such as 19 through which may be passed rods 20 so as to be slidable there in. The rods are of greater length than the bores within the casting 'so that they extend from each end thereof and the lower extension is adapted to engage the segmental pressure strip 21. The outward movement of the rod is limited or controlled by suitable stopping. means such as the cotter pins 22.

The lower end of the rod 20 is provided with a rounded head 23 which provides a seat for the compression spring 24 mounted between the seat and the base of the casting 12a. The spring 24 is of such a length with relation to the length of the rod or sliding pin 20 that when the same is in the position at which it is stopped by the cotter pin 22, the spring will not have achieved a state of repose and will still remain under compression exerting force upon the rod by its contact with the head 23 thereof. While the rod 20 is shown in the position at which it would be stopped by the cotter pin 22, it is to be understood that in actual operation, the rod will not become so extended since such extension will be arrested by its contact with the pressure strip 21 which is bearing against and stopped by the sealing member 14 which is in turn bearing against and stopped by the confines of the fountain. When the spring loaded rods are thus stopped short of their completely extended position, it can be seen that a constantly urging force will be provided to hold the pressure strip and sealing strip contiguous therewith in proper relation for the desired fluid tight seal around the walls of the fountain and the fountain roller operating in contact therewith. In this particular mounting, the cotter pin does not serve to limit the expansion of the spring when the divider is operatively mounted, but acts only to prevent the pin from falling from the spacer casting when the divider is removed from the fountain and all active forces upon the same are removed.

A second type of spring mounting which may be conveniently employed along with that above described comprises a rod such as 25 which passes through a. bore 26 in' the spacer casting segment 12 and through an opening 27 in the pressure strip segment 21. Like the previously described rod 20, the rod 25 will be provided at its upper end with a cotter pin 28; but at its other end it will be flared or provided with other means for preventing the pressure strip segment from falling away. In this particular mounting the compression spring 29 will act directly upon the pressure strip to provide the same urging force against the resilient sealing strip 14 as that provided by the above-described mounting. In this particular modification, however, the rod 25 serves not only to direct the force of the compression spring at the'proper point on the pressure strip but also to hold the pressure strip segments substantially in place when all of the operative forces provided by the fountain acting through the resilient sealing strip 14 upon the pressure strip segment have been removed.

The manner in which the divider thus constructed may be employed is best shown in Figure 2 wherein there is shown a fountain defined by the vertical wall 30, the horizontal wall 31 at the ductor or fountain roller 32 which, by its rotation, transfers the ink or similar coating;

material from the reservoir formed by the fountain to the train of coating or printing rollers (not shown) which will ultimately transfer the coating material to the impression plate or similar coating device.

In order to divide the overall fountain into separate and distinct reservoirs, a divider 33 similar to that described above in connection with Figure 1 is clamped to the vertical wall of the fountain by means of clamping portion 34 and set screw 35 passing therethrough. The spaced side plates 36 provide a peripheral channel which is adapted to receive the sealing strip 37 which is itself adapted to form a fluid tight seal with the fountain wall and the rotating fountain roller 32 as it is urged against these components by the spring loaded pressure strips described above.

While adequate sealing may be provided in a device according to this invention wherein the urging means act directly upon the Sealing member, the interposition of pressure strips between the urging force and the sealing member is preferred in that the strips provide for even distribution of this force along the entire inner periphery of the sealing member or fountain contact portion so that a uniform sealing contact may be maintained.

The shape and location of the pressure strip segments and the placement of the compression springs acting thereon will depend upon the contour of the fountain upon which the divider is to be employed, it being understood that the principles of this invention are applicable to the division of fluid receptacles generally, their differ ent sizes and shapes notwithstanding.

I claim:

A fountain divider comprising a body portion consisting of a spacer member, two side plates fastened to opposite sides of said spacer member to form a peripheral channel, a segmented pressure strip within said channel and connected to said spacer member by pins slidable therethrough, compression springs surrounding said pins and acting outwardly against the segments of said strip and a resilient member positioned contiguous to said pressure strip partially within said channel and partially extending beyond the edges of said side plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,993,284 Roehm Mar. 5, 1935 2,301,535 Green Nov. 10, 1942 2,431,900 Worthington Dec. 2, 1947 2,514,653 Lerch July 11, 1950 

